NCC Media -- Five Ways to Target Hispanic Audiences

The burgeoning Hispanic market is proving to be a lucrative source for such opportunities -- not only for advertisers but for NCC Media as well. Already 55 million people strong and projected to reach between 75 million and 90 million by 2020, the surging Hispanic population in the US is increasingly American-born, resulting in a new generation of bicultural and bilingual consumers with money to spend -- an estimated $1.5 trillion dollars in buying power in 2015. The question becomes, how do marketers win some of that buying power?

Where are They Watching?

We know that Hispanics are much more likely to consume video on a smartphone or PC than the general population -- about 3.5 hours of video on a phone and almost 20 hours on a PC a month, according to Nielsen. This represents over 16% of all Hispanic video viewing, whether live or time-shifted, on a TV or another device. Compare that to the 7% that watch video on a smartphone or PC in the general population and you realize the necessity of digital video in any Hispanic media plan. Hispanics are not only tech savvy with their personal devices, they're also expanding their connections with their cable companies. Their cable growth rate was three times higher than the national average between 2008 and 2015.

What are They Watching?

Some people might be surprised to learn that Hispanics 18-49 watch more cable than any other television media. Three times more watch cable than the six Spanish language broadcasters combined -- and also three times more than all five English language broadcasters. The differences in demographic breakdown of the three television environments speak volumes. With a median age of 34, cable is the perfect complement to Spanish language broadcast. Spanish language broadcast average age is 8 years older, at 42, and English language broadcast is oldest at 46.

So there are a couple of ways to get your message in front of more Hispanic consumers using cable. The obvious one is by placing Spanish language ads in Spanish language cable programming. There are 22 Spanish language cable networks that are insertable to varying degrees across the top 40 Hispanic markets.

In markets with high Hispanic concentrations, advertisers can place ads with Spanish language copy on English language cable networks. In New York City, Los Angeles, Dallas, San Antonio and El Paso there are opportunities on 30 collective networks. Comcast Miami, Houston and Sacramento have five English language networks each that take Spanish copy.

How Do You Target Acculturated Hispanics?

The media community often refers to all Hispanics as if they were a homogenous group but they're not. NCC Media has focused on a segment referred to as acculturated Hispanics.

How do we define this group? A simple definition of acculturation is a group that incorporates or acquires a new culture without foregoing past cultural traditions. Unlike most European immigrants that assimilate into society by taking on American values, Hispanics are more likely to bridge American culture with their native customs and traditions. This group tends to be younger with household incomes solidly above $50K and they prefer to speak English at home.

Why is it important to focus on the acculturated segment? It's a huge portion of the overall Hispanic population and it's growing. Currently, according to Geoscape, 45% of the Hispanic population is acculturated and Hispanic households with incomes of $50K+ and $75K+ are growing. They will play a more important role in your media plan going forward -- if you let them. Acculturated Hispanics spend just 1% of their television viewing time with Spanish language broadcasters and two thirds with cable.

We listed the viewing preferences for Hispanics in $50K+ and $75K+ households. There was not a huge difference between the two, but it's a different line-up from what you might find among the general population. Hispanics have their passion points and food, entertainment and sports are at the top of the list.

NCC Media is hyper focused on reaching consumers where they live, work, play and shop. When it comes to acculturated Hispanics it turns out they are tightly clustered in targeted geographies much in the same way all Hispanics are. In fact, 80% of acculturated Hispanic households can be found in just a handful of large, medium and small DMAs, and 70% live in the top 20 Hispanic DMAs. Marketers who want to improve their advertising message's reach to acculturated Hispanic consumers must know where to find them in every market.

There are opportunities for driving deeper connections through Video on on Demand, Dynamic Ad Insertion (VOD DAI), TV Everywhere and A+ Targeting (matching subscribers' billing addresses with modems for ad placement on brand safe websites). With these omni-screen solutions, thousands of hours of great cable programming could be influencing millions of Hispanic consumers precisely where they live.

Download the reports below for more details.

In summary there are several points to consider in making your next Hispanic media plan or buy:

An omni-screen digital video approach is a must with tech-savvy Hispanics.

Ad-supported cable has the lion's share of viewing among all Hispanics. Cable support from Hispanic advertisers does not currently reflect this share of viewing.

Culturally infused ads can be run as an unwired network across Hispanic markets.

Geo-target Hispanics in the markets and cable systems where they live.

The opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillage.com/MyersBizNet, Inc. management or associated bloggers.

Chris Foley, Vice President, Sales Marketing is a veteran of the cable television industry with a background in television and digital research, marketing and sales. Chris has been with NCC for over 12 years now and brought 15 years of experience to ...
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